A late-inning surge, led by Termarr Johnson’s home run, propelled the Altoona Curve to a 7-5 victory over the Portland Sea Dogs Sunday afternoon in front of 4,130 fans at PNG Field.
It marked the second late rally in as many days for the Curve as they scored runs in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to erase a four-run deficit.
“Just staying in the moment for them, not getting, ‘OK, hey, we’re down by a run or two,’ or whatever it is to still keep playing,” Altoona manager Andy Fox said. “The gratifying fact is they do keep playing, and they don’t give up.”
Home runs by Portland’s Zach Ehrhard and Mark Kolozsvary in the second and fifth innings, respectively, gave the Sea Dogs a 2-0 lead through five innings.
Ehrhard notched another home run, a two-run shot in the sixth to put the Curve in a position they are quite familiar with, and they responded nearly immediately.
Back-to-back singles in the home half of the sixth followed by a groundout by Mitch Jebb put runners at second and third for Kervin Pichardo. He hit into a fielder’s choice but scored Hudson Head from third to give the Curve their first run.
Johnson then put a charge into the ballpark and his team with his 424-foot home run to get Altoona within a run.
“We were down four early and coming back and just getting within one run, you’re thinking, ‘OK, we got a chance,’” Fox said.
For Johnson, it marked getting the upper hand against a pitcher he’d been battling with all day.
“It’s always great to have a pitcher competing with you,” Johnson said. “It was really good to have that battle with him, and it was really good just to get that good result out of it. He did a really good job so I got to give props to him.”
The seventh inning saw Brenden Dixon tying the game, scoring on a base hit by Maikol Escotto.
Portland plated a run in the eighth, but again, the Curve immediately responded in the home half of the inning. For Johnson and his teammates, the goal was simple as they battled back as they have all week.
“Just trying to make sure that we go out there and put together good at bats,” Johnson said. “The other team was putting together some really good at bats, making it really hard for them to strike out and make it really hard for us on the defense, so we had to do the same, just match their energy, and it ended up going well for the past two nights. And you know pretty much the whole week has kind of been like that, so it’s been really good from that standpoint.”
Moving, shaking
Po-Yu Chen began the week earning a win in his Triple-A debut with Indianapolis. On Sunday, Chen was the Curve’s starting pitcher and allowed four runs on six hits, three of those coming courtesy of the long ball.
Chen’s win with the Indians was his first win of the season. He’s currently 0-4 with a 4.36 ERA in Double-A.
“He’s a pro, he’s been around, and he understands the situation,” Fox said. “He’s still got to go out and perform, and despite his line, I thought he threw the ball really well.”
Escotto was promoted from High-A Greensboro ahead of Saturday’s contests. Escotto was hitting .316 with six home runs in 38 games with the Grasshoppers prior to his promotion.
Saturday’s action
Saturday saw the completion of a rain-shortened game from Friday as well as the regular scheduled game.
The Curve lost 9-3 in the first game, but the second game was a completely different story.
Portland scored five times in the top of the first and added another run in the top of the fifth, but then Altoona stormed back, thanks to four walks and a bases-loaded hit by pitch, which made it 6-2.
Nick Cimillo mashed a game-tying grand slam, which led to the game going to extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, the Sea Dogs plated their inherited runner, but Cimillo singled home Jack Brannigan, setting the stage for Brenden Dixon’s walk-off two-run home run to give Altoona the win.
Up next
Altoona has Monday off before taking on New Hampshire for a six-game series beginning on Tuesday.
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